End-of-Life Tip #6: Should We Talk to the Kids About Death?
Seven (7) Days of end-of-life tips
Day # 6 “Should we talk to the kids about death?”
One day, I was visiting a patient, an 86-year-old father and grandfather. His daughter, a mother of four kids ages 6, 8, 9, and 13, asked me if she should tell the kids he was dying.
They knew he was sick; he had been in bed for several weeks but only recently was sleeping more and became less communicative.
The kids had a close relationship with him and saw him every day.
I am not a therapist, psychiatrist, or social worker, and I do not pretend to be; I leave the difficult, in-depth conversations for them because they are trained to handle them far more delicately than I am. However, I felt it necessary to address it right then because I knew he was close.
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